Our Hero Academia: Chapter 3
Results Isan sighed as the first events of the day had finally ended. It had felt like it had taken weeks, but it was finally over. "Alright," he began, "let's see how you all did." He pressed a button, displaying everyone's score on an electronic board. # Tali Shimamura # Jirou Tezuka # Saori Yamamoto # Joho Gijutsu # Akira Wareashi # Ryuji Adachi # Kinzoku Kusari # Dante Shimamura # Zenji Kaisei # Mickey Tutone # Jack Daniels # Katsuro Kairi # Isabella Flynn # Aiko Kowareta # Rei English # Izanagi Kiyoshi # Miranda Amastacia # Ava Rizal # Griselle Hideaki # Midori Crane "Everyone find your names. Your scores were based upon your placement in each event. 1st place was worth 20 points, last place was worth one. Remember, just because you didn't place well in this test, doesn't mean you or your Quirk are worthless. Some people are better suited for different things. Our most improved students actually didn't crack the top three." Zenji elbowed Joho. "Looks like you did pretty well." "Eh," she responded, "if there was more gear to capture our scores I might've gotten first." The two chuckled. "Hey Griselle, you didn't get last," he said it somewhat innocently. It wasn't until afterwards he thought that it might not have been the best thing to say. Griselle looked away, embarrassed to let anyone see her face. Nevertheless, she had to keep on trying. "Yea, I guess I didn't. But that's only because Midori wasn't trying. Anyone with half a brain could tell that much." "Excuse me, coming through." Moving through the crowd building in front of the scoreboard, Jirou was looking through the list of names, half-expecting himself to be somewhere down bottom. But to his surprise and utter shock, he was standing second to the top, "S-sec...second place?!" Coming through the side, Ryuji came to the front of the screen, scrolling through the names as he compared his expectations with the actual results, eventually reading out his name, "6th place huh, not bad, but not top 5 material though," he said, rubbing his chin. Following him soon after, Jack took his place next to Ryuji and took a look at the scores from their tests. First taking note of Ryuji's place at sixth place before going further down to find himself at eleventh. "You sound pretty humble about it, not quite there but doesn't this mean that they might be underestimating you from here on?" His comment followed by a short snicker before settling into the situation, Jack felt satisfied as his own score put him a cut above the middle and still left people questioning his abilities. It suddenly struck him however, that he had never answered Ryuji's earlier question about getting the guys together: "Oh yeah, about meeting up the boys, sure. Do you think they'd agree to it though? They don't know me and you've managed to trigger half of them today, and it's our first day." Looking over Jack's place, he was impressed, given the fact that no knew the full extent of his Quirk, yet still managing to attain a spot below the top ten. Nodding his head in approval as he stretched his hands across his back, looking over Jack with a somewhat interested stare. "Well why not? The promise of a good time. Maybe some food and we'll be set for a night in the town, what's there not to agree." Nodding his head in approval, Jack could certainly agree to those terms as it could potentially better the relationship between the guys in general. "Well, what do you say then. Giving an announcement just after tomorrow's class? Should come off as good news after a long day of battling." Jack continued to look through the rankings between each of the classmates as he spoke, he didn't know many of them but made sure to memorize the ones he knew by now. Miranda smiled softly as she sighed with relief. She didn't get last. She shouldn't be proud of 17th but it seemed to be an achievement for her. She went over to Griselle and patted her softly on the back. "Hey, we will beat them in our tests though, who cares about strength when you got the brains!" Eyes hovering over her score, Akira released a breath she didn't know she was holding. Her hands massaged her thighs, as she stared at them. Fifth was more than Akira thought she would have succeeded, and that was when the information fully sunk into her mind. A giggle almost escaped her lips, and Akira rose both palms to muffle it, smiling into them, this sensation was so much different than last year's. Out of the numerous names put on display, Saori scrolled all over the scoreboard to find her name among the rest of her classmates, happy to see that she managed to snag herself third 3rd place among her classmates. Ecstatic at the results of her hard work, she began to blush while fidgeting in place, attempting to hide her smile out of embarrassment by burying her face into her hands. Aiko was brought to her knees, all the hardwork she had put in only got her to the fourteenth place. Midori crouched beside her, still with her bland expression situated on her face as she brought her arm around her friend to comfort her. “Fourteenth. How. This is rigged, I just know it.” Aiko thought out loud to herself under her breathe. “Calm down, its just a quirk appraisal test. There’s always going to be another chance to show yourself.” Midori reasoned out, patting Aiko on the back as the two of them kept away from the class. “How about after school we go to the junkyard and break some shit. I know I need to blow off some steam after everything that’s happened today.” she suggested. Aiko looked to Midori with a recovering smile, “Yeah, I’d like that.” Ava looked uncomfortable with her score, As if trying to avoid sights on it. Her throat was caught tightly forbidding her from speaking and she played with her fingers as she looked down the sandy field with an abominable amount of negative energy being released from her aura. She teen took a one long and heavy sigh which then she sets her eyes on the 7th place and her energy was turned 190 degrees. Her eyes full of adoration as she stared at the name with gratefulness bestowed on her face. Kinzoku gazed at the board, his eyes grew bright with excitement as he witnessed his name being in 7th place. He was in the top 10, the exercises weren't made for his quirk exactly, but he could say he'd greatly improved compared to last year. "Looks like I've bested you in this mate!" He shouted in a teasing manner at Rei, whom he was standing next to, making the shouting seem all so unnecessary. But how could he hold in the excitement. Ava watched the two in the distance with a calm smile as she watch over the childish actions of Kinzoku. She was then filled up with dread due to the realization that no matter what she do Kinzoku or her aren't fated together. "This is much better..It's easier this way" Ava whispered for herself as she eyed kinzoku and rei once again. Katsuro was not one for many words but his score had him silent. Just two scores below what would be the half-mark. Acceptable given the factors provided by his quirk and the overall effort he put in to avoid failure. Joho's position on the list was not at the top as he thought it would be but at the same time, it was undeniable that Tali's quirk had near-perfect compatibility with the exercise. There was a lot to learn from them to compensate for the whiplash of his quirk as far as he was concerned. However, he would need to first reevaluate his abilities as his position on the board either meant that the home-room teacher was marking generously or he underestimated himself. Rei couldn't share the same enthusiasm his closest friend had held. He didn't expect a high grade but he didn't exactly live up to his expectations either. And it didn't help that Kinzoku was placed all the way on the other side of the leaderboards. However, instead of acting jealous, he patted him on the back and congratulated him with a bright smile. "At least I'm above Miranda." He noted internally, letting out a slight chuckle. Mickey sighed as he glanced at the board. Seeing as he placed 10th out of 20, he was silently kicking himself for not putting more effort in. "I thought my training would have pushed me up farther than last time, but I've fallen behind," He said under his breath. He clenched his fingers in disappointment and anger, relaxing them a moment later as he tried to let go of the stress. Isabella stood alone, with her arms down to their sides. Her face was still, but her eyes seemed to lose a little light as she looked at her score. "13th place?" She said softly. She had a feeling that she would fall behind, but not that much. "If only I could have controlled my quirk more on the side step. maybe I would have been top ten then." She then stretched her arms upward with her fingers linked together and sighed. She noticed Miranda and Griselle next to her, and decided to ask, "How do you feel about your placement?" That's when the school bell went off. "Alright everyone," began Isan, "that's the bell. Time for lunch. Make sure to get to your next class on time, but until then, enjoy yourselves. You earned it." Lunch As the bell rang, everyone in Class 2-A began to stand outside the cafeteria, with the entire lounge filled with bustling noises as numerous other students from their year were eating at the tables spread out across the large room. With a variety of scents emanating from the kitchen across from them, Jirou began to line up to get lunch, being especially hungry after all of the challenges they had faced earlier today. Looking over the shoulder of the person ahead of him, Jirou spotted that it was lunch special and quickly made his way after the curry, rice, and burger along the stands, hurrying to go after a vacant table straight away from him. Digging in partway, Jirou spotted most of his classmates, quickly skimming through them before crossing before waving at them with a satisfied look on his face. Kinzoku was busy getting his lunch together. He whipped out the bread from earlier today, still fresh as before. He had another bag this time around, a few utensils inside for finishing the lunch. He laid out the bag to prevent from getting anything on the tables. Second was a container with peeled prawn, another with lettuce and the last with remoulade. He proceeded to cut the breed open and putting the ingredients inside. Remoulade on the bottom, lettuce in the middle & peeled prawn on top. A Prawn roll as he called, oven fries with roasted garlic as his side. "Time to dig in, we all deserve to relax for now mates." He then began to eat his meal, enjoying every bit of it. Griselle sat down next to Miranda, still a bit upset with her scores for the Appraisal. She opened a bag filled with muffins, laying them out on the table, 1 for each student in the class, adding up to 20 muffins total. "It's the first day, so I thought why not bring some muffins for everyone!" She hoped that lunch would hopefully get everyone's minds off of the test that had just taken place. "I would like a muffin," said a familiar voice. "Mind if I join you?" Zenji said. He was holding a lunchbox in his hand, a somewhat nervous-looking smile on his face. "Sure Zenji." Griselle handed a muffin over to Zenji, turning he gaze to her own before removing the wrapper she'd place on it. "So, how was your school break?" She'd decided to get caught up with Zenji's life. Since it had been the first day, asking how everyone's break has been was common conversation. "It was great," answered Zenji, his nervousness seeming to fade. "I went to Tokyo Disney for my family vacation. It was pretty fun. What did you do?" "That's cool, I ended up signing up for a summer hero internship. Although it was mostly watching and taking notes. But now I've got a better idea on how to be a proper hero." Griselle looked around, noticing Zenji's usual partner in crime wasn't around. "Where's Joho by the way?" Ava reached for her bag, inside it was a lunchbox which was rice and a filipino cuisine cooked among it. She was slowly making her way to the bathroom as her everyday eating place. With a quick swallow, Jirou could see Ava walking to the direction of the bathrooms located at the end of cafeteria, questioning why she was going there with her food. Picking at his food with the ends of his chopsticks, he took a quick a breathe before getting up from his seat to get her attention, taking his trey before greeting her as he awkwardly stood face to-face with her, "Ugh...hey...there's a free seat over there if you want it," pointing at the table where the others were eating, doing so while rubbing his neck in order to maintain some bravado on his side, "so...yea...we'll go together." Clutching the sides of her plate, Akira set it down upon an empty table, having guided herself from the counter to it with the use of her wheelchair. Thankfully, it seemed to have no damage, despite having been snatched way earlier during the Appraisal Test. With a sigh, Akira looked at the food atop the plate, just her favourites, several bowls, each carrying a different part of the meal. Ava looked at Jirou, She swayed her head left and right trying to see who it was he was talking to. She then pointed at herself trying to make sure it's her. Tali and Dante strolled casually through the cafeteria, trying to find a place where they could sit down and enjoy their meal. They walked past the many tables, and while many of them were not occupied, Tali was not content with an empty table. She wanted to interact with someone this year, someone that was not her brother, so she would wait a bit. When she then heard the offer of a free muffin, she saw an opportunity and excuse to stay at a table to try and converse. As she approached she called out: "I'll take you up on that offer, Griselle!" When she got closer though she noticed that Miranda was sitting right next to her. Worried that she might disrupt something she contemplated to just turn away. Then an idea hit. She pulled Dante with her and firmly forced him to sit down in front of Griselle and Miranda. "Boy, sit. Talk. Don't scare them off." She said as she grabbed a muffin and left after whispering just loud enough for them to hear: "Sorry!" Dante struggled to find his words when he saw his sister leaving him behind. I'll get back at you for this, Tali. He thought with a silent growl when he realized his predicament. He looked to the two girls in front of him and his mind began to race in the attempt to find the right words. "Uhm... Sorry about this-" He spoke and rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry that Tali forced me upon you, she can get a bit assertive when she wants to. I can just leave if you'd like?" he said, his insecurity shining through. "Of course you, who else would I be talking to," he said sternly while his voice cracked, scratching his head before quickly grabbing her hand, guiding her to the table where everyone else were sitting. Sitting her right next to him, Jirou didn't want her eating in the bathroom. Searching for a new spot, he could see everyone were eating in groups, he kept looking around before spotting Akira by her lonesome. Seeing as how he'd be killing two birds with one stone, Jirou had Ava sit right next to him, moving to Akira's table in the hope that she wouldn't mind their company. "Sorry for bothering you, mind if we eat here?", he said half apologetic, more on his behalf so that Ava could have a place to eat. Eyes nearly budging out of her skull, Akira glanced at the two newcomers to her- to the table. Her mouth opened at his question, "No! I-I mean, you're free to, I would like it." Akira beamed and waved her hands, she was all up for making room for her newest friend, Ava, so, it wouldn't be any trouble. Plus, it also meant she could get to know her other classmate, Jirou, more. Akira certainly hadn't talked much to him in the previous year. She gulped down some food from her spoon, "I want to congratulate you two on your scores," She commented with a smile, "I know that the both of you did your best." Taking a long yawn in line, Ryuji was waiting patiently to get through the crowd of people, budging through to get a place to eat. Having come late after changing his clothes after the challenges prior, Ryuji was using a new set of clean clothes to enter the cafeteria. Walking around in order to spot a free space, he quickly a group of familiar faces across from him: Jirou, Ava, and Akira huddled together. Not having a chance to thank Ava for her interjection during the challenges, as well as having an occasion to talk Akira in person, he arrived to the table placing a packed bento on the table. "Don't worry, I come in peace," he uttered, making a knifehand gesture as he unpacked his lunch, exposing an assortment of dishes inside and snacks, "I thought we could share lunches and get to know each, after all, isn't that what friends do?", he uttered, graciously smiling while facing the group while resting his head on one hand at his side. "Getting in the top five, I'm genuinely impressed, must have been hard given the competition in class huh?", eating some takoyaki shortly afterwards, raising an eyebrow to her direction. Griselle looked at Dante for a moment, interestingly enough, she'd just realized she hadn't really gotten to know the boy. "It's alright Dante, why not sit with us? We'd be happy to have lunch with you." She gave him held out a muffin to him seeing as he hadn't taken one yet. Contrary to most of the new classmates, Jack didn't head off to the dining hall but instead found himself just outside the gates of U.A High School. He sat down with his back against the wall, being fortunate enough that he was sitting in the shade as the sun was on the other side of the wall. Beside him was small soda alongside a lunchbox, filled with sushi that had been stirred through with vinegar and sugar whilst being served with pickled ginger and a dollop of wasabi on the side. But the food remained untouched for the time being as he brought the cigarette to his mouth, at first he didn't even inhale, just sucked some smoke in and held it in his mouth then blew it out. Enjoying the initial sensation of it before going on to return the small roll of tobacco and inhaling it for real, making sure to take his time as the smoke filled his lungs before exhaling it soon after. Already feeling his nerves cooling down and his body following soon after, Jack placed his head against the wall behind him and closed his eyes to rest. Even if it wasn't the initial thing one would believe about a school full of hyper kids, it was a surprisingly serene environment that'd allow most students to take a step back whenever they so desired. Izanagi gave a sigh as he walked away from the lunch line. He thought about sitting with some of his classmates but decided against it after a moment. He hadn't been as active as he had wanted to be, but he was feeling tired and with his lunch in hand he walked up out of the lunchroom. Making his way up the school until he reached its top where he sat down on the edge, and started eating the sandwich he had gotten. Looking over the fields of the school he thought about how he had placed and where he wanted to find himself. Katsuro made a jog through the canteen as he ate from a small box of chocolate chip cookies he managed to procure in the morning on his way to school. Everywhere he turned to was with filled seats so he changed his previous objective of finding an empty table to locating one with enough space for him to sit at the very least. As he walked through the crowd, he heard someone offer out a free muffin. Changing his direction as he recognized the voice, he made an attempt right past Griselle's table upon seeing how many people were sitting around it. "That stuff'll kill you ya know," said Isan, as he approached from beside Jack. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone as long a you never smoke on the premises again." Just as Isan scolded Jack, Midori emerged from around the corner of the wall with a lit cigarrette in her mouth, softly blowing smoke from the corner of her lips and in the direction of Aiko who accompanied her. Aiko had her hand over her mouth with the other hand waving in front of her face to move the smoke away. Midori was carrying two bento boxes in one hand as the other rocked to and fro. “I’m sure we can eat out here. Better hope no-ones taken our-“ Midori wondered before noticing Jack against the wall. einng told off by Isan. Ignoring their homeroom teacher who was right there, Midori and Aiko approached Jack, Midori’s cigarette still pointing out from her face. Midori clicked her fingers to draw attention to her, “Oi new kid. Get lost, this is our spot.” she ordered monotone and unenthusiastic tone. Aiko’s eyes shot open as soon as she heard Midori’s words, “Ugh. No need to be rude! She didn’t mean to be hostile or mean, its just that this is the usual spot we ate in since last year. Midori doesn’t like the other students, so we usually tend to eat out here where she can smoke and do homework away from the noise. I hope it isn’t too much of an inconvenience.” Aiko reasoned out panicking, thinking that Midori had offended Jack. Being taken by surprised by his homeroom teacher's sudden appearance, Jack lost his rhythm and started coughing in a muffled response before finally clearing his lungs. "Yeesh Jooryoku-sensei, is that your thing? Appearing out of nowhere?" The man smiled as went ahead and nodded as way to show that he heard him, still smoking his cigarette however as it would appear that he'd be allowed as much. "I heard you smoked too sensei. If not here, where would you and the principal smoke?" Shortly after his question, he'd take note of the two women and their comments. Looking over at Midori for a while without making a comment, continuing to puff his smoke, before turning over to Aiko as he exhaled: "No harm done... Frankly, I didn't know it was your spot. I came here as I didn't think it'd be appropriate for me to be at the old place..." "Yeah piss off. Go hang out with wheelchair girl or something." Midori commanded in a way, the intent of getting Jack to give company to Akira was strong behind Midori's bland tone. Aiko was clearly not impressed with Aiko and moaned irritatedly, "Please don't mind her. We can share the spot for the day perhaps, gives us more time to learn about the new kid. I do insist you stay though". She was obviously trying to make up for Midori's behaviour but had a sincerity that said she did want to get to know Jack on a friendly basis. He was trying to be nice, he didn't know these people after all, but Jack's neutral expression turned into a scowling one. He sat up and moved away from the wall, removing the cigarette from his mouth and exhaling any remaining smoke in his system as he made his way passed the teacher and up to Midori. "Wanna run that by me again kid? Big words coming from the bottom of the ladder, I didn't want to start trouble due to your friend here." Looking over at Aiko for a moment, despite her good will, Jack had still grown irritated as he turned back and pointed his cigarette at Midori. "But you're making it difficult." Placing the remains of the still lit cigarette against his middle finger, supported by the index and ring finger on each side, before snapping the middle finger forward- sending the cigarette against Midori's right shoulder. Still looking down at her even at such a close distance. Midori’s body instantly flinched to the side, her gaze remaining on Jack. “Trust me lamppost, I can dodge anything you throw at me with my eyes closed.” Midori taunted. Aiko had already taken a seat against the wall, having opened her bento box and munching on the apple pieces packed inside.”She really can. She doesn’t even need her hands. But once you two are done fighting, I managed to pack a spare bento incase Midori forgot hers today. Luckily, she brought hers so this spare one can go to you Jack.” Aiko noted, covering her mouth to prevent apple pieces coming out. The man couldn't help to change his unimpressed expression, into a smirk followed by a short snicker. Jack made his way passed Midori and crouched down to pick up the cigarette, breaking the tip of it before throwing it in a nearby trash can. "I'm actually inclined to believe that, it would make up for your spot at the end of the list too if that was the case. He'll, might even have to watch my back." He said as he walked back to the wall and returned to his seat from earlier. Once back in place, Jack proceeded to pick up his lunch box before speaking to Aiko. "Thank you for the offer, but as you can see I brought my own." Picking up and severing a pair of chopsticks that had been inside the box, the man went on to pick up one of the pieces before stopping midway and looking back at the two women. "Unless you'd like to trade?" Grabbing onto the side of the lunch box, Jack stretched it towards Aiko to see if she was willing to bargain. Aiko simply smiled, already content with the fact that Jack remained to sit with them for the lunch period. “Depends new kid, what have you got to trade? As you can see I’ve got apple pieces, fried chicken as well as a bit of sushi. Any of that sound appetising to you?” Aiko said describing the contents of both bento boxes. Midori did nothing but sit next to Aiko, her legs crossed as she picked her own bento box up. “I made curry.” Her bland voice ‘exclaimed’. “I’ll give you a bit for your sushi rolls.” Midori bargained as she presented the red curry to Aiko. “You know, you can always ask my mum to make you lunch instead of you making your own. She’s happy to do it for you, and you don’t need to go and buy your own groceries each time.” Aiko reasoned, her face expressing pity as she looked to the curry and then to Midori. Midori pulled the bento box back to herself and looked at it with a powerful gaze. “Aye, I know. But I’d feel bad, I’m already living in your house so it’ll feel wrong for you guys to cook me food everyday.” Midori quietly said, with the tiniest hint of regret in her voice.